Tess Holliday Partners With H&M To Expand Their Plus-Size Line: "This Can Literally Transform Lives"

H&M has long been known for its affordable fashion line that is available in stores across the country as well as online. It offers a plus-size line of clothing for women, but activist Tess Holliday has insisted that it's not inclusive enough. Tess donned the cover of Cosmopolitan in 2018, which sparked much controversy about her platform and the message she promotes to women. She coined the hashtag #effyourbeauty standards and recently declared that she is anorexic. She shared her excitement about partnering with H&M on her Instagram page.

Tess Holliday Partners with H&M to Expand Their Plus-Size Line

Vogue covered the partnership between Tess and H&M, sharing pictures of her working with the fashion brand. "Over a year in the making and one of the most meaningful roles I’ve ever taken on!!! 😭 My heart is so full!!!" Tess wrote in the caption on Instagram. She was a model for H&M in a previous campaign, but Tess made it clear to the brand that they didn't make clothes big enough for her. She's a size 24.

“I reached out to H&M and told them this shouldn’t be happening. What can we do to fix it? What can we do to make sure that nobody else is going to have the experience that I’m having?” Tess said. “And I was very surprised and relieved that not only did they fix the problem, they invested in it.”

Tess worked with Donna Dozier Gordon, H&M's head of inclusion and diversity, who said they wanted to "make the brand more accessible for more customers" and Tess was the person to help them achieve that.

"We've been on our inclusive size journey for a while, but I think with the insights that Tess is providing, we will really be able to do some great things in terms of the accessibility of this customer to fashion," she told People.

Now the brand will have clothes that go up to 4XL for women and 3XL for men. While all of these sizes will be available online, in-store sizes will go up to 2XL. Prior to this, clothing was available until XL in stores and online, with some H&M+ clothes going up to 3XL or 4XL.

"The word that we've used throughout our partnership is authenticity," Tess said. "It's really easy to talk about this because it's genuine and authentic and that is something that really means a lot to me because I'm putting my name on this."

Tess gushed about how "open" H&M is. "They're willing to prioritize their plus-size consumers, and this is just the beginning of a continued conversation that can literally transform lives," she said.

When the news broke on social media, many responded with concerns about how quickly the fashion industry and media are willing to normalize obesity rather than identify it as a deadly metabolic disorder that is plaguing nearly half of Americans.

"Obesity leads to higher diabetes risk, cardiovascular disease, increased cancer risk, and overall increased morbidity and mortality. You are actually promoting early death. Good job lol," someone tweeted in response to People's article.

"1 million Covid deaths - excluding the elderly, the rest were due to secondary health conditions. Hint - we are the second fattest Country in the World. Dubai bring first," another person responded.

"You know what transforms lives? Dieting, being disciplined in what you put in your body and some exercise," one user wrote.

Tess has always responded to criticism flippantly, telling people to mind their own business, but it's becoming clearer that Americans are sicker than ever. And perhaps we should be more concerned about friends and family members' health if we want to secure the future of our country.